Re: Vacillare

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

> Ernout-Meillet:
>
> 'uacillo: (uaccillo:, Lucr.3,502 tum quasi uaccillans consurgit et
> onnis | paulatim redit in sensus), -a:s, -a:ui:, -a:tum, -a:re :
> vaciller, chanceler (sens propre et dérivé).
> Mot favori de Cicéron; non attesté avant lui, rare dans la 1.
> impériale. Formes savantes dans les l. romanes, M.L.9112.
> Dérivés: uacilla:tio:, -tor (Gloss.).
> Mot expressif (cf. le type sorbillo:, etc.), d'origine obscure.
> Le -cc-, attesté chez Lucrèce, est un exemple de gémination
> expressive.'
>
> cf. Germ. wackeln "totter", Eng. waggle.
>
> The standard approach is to see the Lat. word as inherited, but
> given the late attestation, could it be a Germanic loan?

Indeed, the origin of the isolated Latin verb vacilla:re is deemed
obscure by more than an author. Perhaps its origin is purely
phonetic.

Conversely, the following is an example of what you refer to as
the "standard approach":

http://tinyurl.com/5edn5r
(the proposed "wider" root here is *wak- ~ *wag- ~ *wek- ~ *weg-)

Differently in Pokorny:

http://tinyurl.com/5h3g68
(the proposed root is *w&k- ~ *wa:k-; material restricted to Latin
and Celtic reflexes only)

*If* you concede that the root of the Lat. verb could be something
like *wak- 'to be bent', then you might want to take a look at
Hofmann's etymology (Lateinisches etymologisches Woerterbuch, p.
268):

*wak-ro-layo: > *wakello: > vacillo: (pron. <wakillo:>)

Regards,
Francesco